News

After Berkeley Housing Authority (BHA) workers were skewered in a city attorney report for in competencies such as housing dead people in low-income apartments and obstructing investigations, they fought back at Tuesday’s BHA meeting. -more-

The Oxford Street parking lot was closed and bulldozed Monday morning, April 2. That night, nearby businesses had little business. The lot is the site of plans to build a residential housing project (called Oxford Plaza) and environmental center named in honor of the late activist David Brower. -more-

The Berkeley Housing Authority has paid rent on at least 15 units where tenants are dead—as much as two years of rent on the deceased, failed to inspect units where substandard conditions exist, and allowed ineligible family members to “inherit” a unit ahead of others on the waiting list. -more-

Poised to reaffirm its status as a city of refuge for immigrants at tonight’s (Tuesday) City Council meeting, councilmembers are likely to debate the format of the proposal—ordinance or resolution—while supporting the concept of Berkeley as a sanctuary city, a designation made first in 1971 and again in 1986. -more-

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger came to Berkeley Friday, declaring that market forces would solve one of the greatest issues in global warming. -more-

By Judith Scherr -more-

It was good news/bad news in the Bay Area media world last week. -more-

The Berkeley Board of Education will vote Wednesday on whether to approve $750,000 in funds from the Office of Public School Construction (OPSC) and $305,000 in PG&E funds to complete a solar project for Washington Elementary School. -more-

Mayor Tom Bates has added to and clarified some elements in his Public Commons for Everyone Initiative proposal, which the City Council will be asked to address tonight (Tuesday). -more-

Berkeley High School named Cheryl Draper as its new girls’ basketball coach Monday. Draper replaced Gene Nakamura two weeks ago and her team will play their first basketball game in November. -more-

The Berkeley Zoning Adjustments Board (ZAB) will once again hear the appeal of an administrative use permit on Thursday that would allow construction at a single-family residential building at 2008 Virginia St. -more-

Nationally known African-American talk show host Tavis Smiley brought his Road to Health Wellness Expo to the Oakland Convention Center recently, with hundreds of residents turning out to the downtown facility on May 11 and 12 to hear presentations on various aspects of healthy living, sample food and products, and get free medical testing by representatives of local health clinics and medical facilities. -more-

Two years ago, Derby Street resident Martha Jones had a sofa sitting on the sidewalk of her block for an entire week. -more-

More than 50 complaints lodged with the Police Review Commission against various Berkeley police officers sit awaiting action at the city’s Police Review Commission offices. -more-

In an effort to bring more transparency to library governance, the Board of Library Trustees held its first public hearing last week on the budget, giving the public a chance to comment on how the institution spends the $13 million it receives through the city’s library tax. -more-

A Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL) plan to build a 25,000-square-foot, 60-bedroom, four-story guest house at the lab poses no significant negative environmental impacts, lab officials contend. -more-

When Augustin Aguayo joined the military the young man thought it would open doors for him, but soon realized that he had been mistaken. -more-

With some predictions that Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger’s new budget proposals could have severe effects on the East Bay’s public transit system, East Bay transit officials and its powerful trio of state legislators are indicating that a fight is in the works. -more-

The long-running battle of Casino San Pablo is at an end, with both sides claiming victory. -more-

Berkeley’s Transportation and Planning commissions and the Downtown Area Plan Advisory Committee (DAPAC) will meet with representatives of AC Transit next Thursday night, May 24, to talk about Bus Rapid Transit (BRT). -more-

School burglary -more-

At a contentious meeting of the Point Richmond Neighborhood Council (PRNC) on Monday dues-paying members voted 60-7 against supporting a local committee’s proposal to tear down the Richmond library’s Westside branch in Point Richmond and move the branch’s operations to a nearby rental facility. -more-